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October 1755 is quite the month, if you have read Loki100’s part. Fort Duquesne is captured :

That’s a very decisive event that will change the geography of the conflict, by closing most of my opponent access to what I described earlier as my “underbelly”. I will show more during a coming Winter update.

In the Lake Champlain area, the French retreated to Fort Saint Frederick before I could fight them :

I am not going to pursue them : even if I chased their army there would still be the Fort to siege and take (or to assault, with high risk), so I decide instead to bring my troop back in Albany. I divide my army in small groups so it moves faster (as each group as a smaller CP malus).

A new General arrives : Bradstreet. Quite the dude :

With him I receive my first 2 units of Battoemen in Albany :

They are not the best fighters around, but their special capacities are outstanding :
- 15% supply consumption in wild areas for the whole stack they are in
- Less malus when crossing rivers for the whole stack (and remember there are a lot in America)
- When they are in Oswego, Saint Sacrament or Fort Duquesne, and if there is a depot, they can build Bateaux (2 units of 3 elements in Fort Duquesne, 3 units of 3 elements in the 2 other places, in total (not per Battoemen unit). It is something to remember as the game only tells you this once, when they first arrive.

For obvious reason, I decide to send one unit of Battoemen to Fort Duquesne.
Finally, the situation of Grandpré is complex :

The siege has been broken without combat due to a unit of French militia moving in. Usually, such a move would trigger a battle, which would avoid the siege from being broken (if the besiegers win), but this did not happen because I only had partial military control of the province, so a French unit could move in without combat.

Beginner’s corner – Military Control

Military Control (MC) is the oil in the mechanism of Wars in America. You don’t need to understand it, you don’t often use it, but it can explain how quite a few things work in the game.
To see military control, just hover the cursor over a province.

How do you gain military control

There are two ways to gain military control :
- When an army is in a province with Offensive or Assault Posture, it will gradually gain military control. A large army will gain 100% military control in one month easily, not a smaller one. When in Defensive posture, an army does NOT gain military control.
- In the War of Independence campaigns (not in the French and Indian War one), Military Control will increase for the player with the most “loyalty” inthe region. Hence, without interference, a province with 45% English Loyalty 55% Rebel, will have 100% Rebel MC at some point(it will be very long).
Who controls the structure has NO impact on Military Control. When sieging, you will often have 100% MC on the province, but won’t own the structure… yet.
That was my mistake. I switched to “defensive posture” too early, and thus my MC control did not progress anymore despite the siege.

What are the effects of Military Control

There are some key levels :
- A force that enters a region in which it has less than 6% military control will automatically assume offensive posture (even if the leader is inactive. In case of battle, there will be huge penalties to him, so avoid forcing battle this way).
- A force will never retreat to an area on which the player has less than 6% MC.
- A force that cross or land (amphibious assault) in a region on which it has more than 10% MC will have no malus – the troops cross where they control the other side of the river.

There are also “graduate” impact :
- Cohesion cost for movement is increased in territory on whci you have little MC
- You have some detection capacity with MC. The more MC you have, the “better” you see.
- If an enemy army of a decent size or a fort is in the same province as one of your stacks, your movement may be blocked on province which you don’t have MC on. The lower the MC, the higher the chances that you are blocked.

End of Beginner’s corner

In my case, the 21% Military Control the French had on Grandpré’s region was enough for an enemy (small stack) to enter it without assuming offensive posture, i.e. without attacking me. Since there is a French stack in the province, there cannot be a siege. Thus, Loki100 did (unpurposely I believe) lift the siege.
I don’t want to start the siege again – it is October and up North the winter should be here next turn. I order my army to ASSAULT Grandpré. This should solve the problem…

In my case, the 21% Military Control the French had on Grandpré’s region was enough for an enemy (small stack) to enter it without assuming offensive posture, i.e. without attacking me. Since there is a French stack in the province, there cannot be a siege. Thus, Loki100 did (unpurposely I believe) lift the siege.

yep, I don't even know where that formation came from, I think it was some sort of reinforcement that appeared at Grand Pre (or I was playing around with stances and ordered it to leave the fortress ... ah well, it was a nice success while it lasted.

as to my updates, I'm just doing the sept 56 moves now, so hopefully tomorrow will do some update posts on what I was trying to do in 1756 ... & a secret disaster that happened in the winter of 55-56

Remember, whatever the question, the answer on 18 September is Yes ...

November 1755 sees some great news. After no less than 4 assault, Grandpré is taken.

Here are the two last assaults :

Unfortunately, during the last assault, Oliver Delancey died in action – probably leader the heroic charge through some breach in the wall, given his stats.

The graveyard is now larger :

I drop a garrison, lead by my most useless leader (John Winslow), and decide to send the rest of the force to winter in Halifax.

Note that you don’t need to force yourself to have leaders in your garrison. I do it for very strategic and exposed places, like Grandpré, where a French surprise landing is always possible.

Speaking of exposed places, I do a swap of leaders in Fort Duquesne :

My inept leaders in Albany are going to be sent to Fort Duquesne (including a leader that can lead both colonials and regulars – handy given the composition of my force in Duquesne) while Dunbarr and Washington will go to Albany. There will be a lots of Militias to train for Washington in Albany, while those are rare in Duquesne.

Also note the 2 Indian villages that switched sides after the fall of the French fort.

In the South, not much news except some French raiding – which have no success.

I use the opportunity for a little beginner’s corner on wintering :

Beginner’s corner – Wintering

Why is it necessary to winter ? Well, a few points of the impact of horrible weather – like snow or blizzard – on your troops :
- Units will move much more slowly in the snow. Guns and supply trains will move at a snail pace – and will be barred from entering the most wild regions,

- Your units will receive damage from frostbite if they have no supply. Not a lot, but it adds up. If the weather is poor (blizzard), your units will receive a lots of damage. Supply will cancel a large part of the damage but at cost of, well, supply... and if you are out of supply in winter, your troops will take damage from frostbite, damage and cohesion loss from hunger, and move more and more slowly (weather + low cohesion), so you won't reach a safe place next turn... an horrible vicious circle that can really DESTROY armies,

- Your troops will also lose a lot of cohesion while moving, which means after one turn of being slow (just snow impending their march), they will be HORRIBLY slow the following turn (low cohesion + snow) and almost stopped after that (low cohesion + winter + probably no more supply). If they attack, they'll find in defense a full cohesion army. Dangerous...

- As for sieges, winter will chew through your supplies faster than the siege will chew through their.

- Bad weather in winter will also slow boats down and damage them.

Conclusion : prepare for winter as soon as September-October in Canada and November up to New York and in the wilderness.

Very good and informative AAR. I received the game and would like to give it a try.

From what you wrote about MC, I gather that sending a scouting force ahead to shift MC in your direction will helpfully speed the movement of following troops (in circumstances where this is not dangerous).

Given the cost, I assume that there will be only a handful of depots across the map in a game, at the strategic points (particularly upper New York).

I think in this game, Military Control is less important - all my raiding couriers and Indians aren't really taking control of regions nor is being in English territory such a problem. A large force of regulars will take MC as they move. In that sense its less stringent than in Rise of Prussia, where it was sometimes essential to put a cavalry force out in front to gain MC, especially with the Austrians and their cautious generals.

Also the depot system is different to RoP, you need them at key points but they don't act as a supply funnel like in RoP. The 'depot-gap' is the Champlian region, if Narwhal goes overland to Mont Royal he has to try and build 1 (maybe 2) more, for the French I don't think you need to build any ... unless it all goes so fantastically well and you end up able to campaign into the New York region

I can't recommend it too much. Unlike RoP, you can play at some speed, as you have fewer options, but its still very deep and sets you lots and lots of problems - even against the AI

Remember, whatever the question, the answer on 18 September is Yes ...

my early moves and plans for 1756

In this post I'll try and set out what I thought I'd achieve in this campaigning season.

However, even where I'm strongest (on the Albany-Quebec corridor), I'd made a mistake in leaving too many troops in an isolated fort

with the result that they were in a mess, even before the campaigning season begins. As Narwhal won't know this, I hope to be able to bluff him around Lake Champlain that I am a lot stronger than in reality.

I want to raise some new forces but lack the EPs in March, but I order them in April and they arrive in May - just in time for the war ...

Now I can sort of divide the war into 4 distinct regions, & I'll keep to that for most of my updates over 1756.

Now in a way, Lake Champlain is the central front:

Here you can see my decent brigade (back at Quebec, well fed and ready) and my poor starved brigade at St Frederic. Over to the east, I'll repeat my raids from last season, the last remaining port will just have to fend for itself (which it actually manages quite well).

I think Narwhal will exploit his gains over to the west, so I sort of think this will be a quiet sector ... we'll see.

Over winter, I'd sent a unit of Couriers down south (had I realised I would have done this early in 1755). So I can steadily (1 at a time) raise the local tribes and attack the weaker forts in the Atlanta region. I doubt it'll be game winning but it might distract Narwhal and it will cheer me up

In the Ontario region, I'll have quite a few Indians turning up at Niagara soon, so my plan is to scout and raid (if I can) the region to the west of Albany - again distraction and I may get lucky.

Having lost Fort Duquesne, I need to delay any attack towards Lake Ontario (just off to the north of the picture). I'm bringing together a decent force of Couriers and Indians and can either harass a British attempt to attack Fort Venango or try for Fort Cumberland - I'll make a lot of use of the 'ambush' function in either case.

Down in the south, winter is over, so my active units are moving to scout Fort Prince George - I'll be opportunistic and take out whichever is weakest while more and more Indians arrive.

and ....

salvation ... or at least a huge relief. Montcalm made it, with a good force. Which oddly adds to my suspicion that Narwhal won't push for Quebec this campaign season - not least my 2 forts on the East coast are still a threat.

so ... some of these plans even work ... others ... ah well

Remember, whatever the question, the answer on 18 September is Yes ...

That’s basically the end of the events for 1755. Not much happened in December, as everyone wintered.

Here is a pic of the main front. Not much to see.

Similarly, no event in January 1756, except that the militias disbanded and went back one, letting some of my cities defenseless.

Finally, February was calm as well :

As you can see, the only unit having moved from December to Feebruary is the Battoemen en route to Fort Duquesne. He can move because in winter because I make sure to make him go from large cities to large cities, and because I am ready to accept some losses in this unit to have my bateaux quicker.

Let’s have a few strategic considerations on the year to come.

The main event of 1755 was in my opinion the fall of Duquesne. It blocks the French access to my “underbelly” and allow me to threaten a large part of the French territory. The map has changed since 1755.

Unfortunately, Fort Duquesne can be fairly easily attack by the French : reinforcements have to come the long way (3 to 6 month to arrive) for me while 2 Forts and 1 Indian village allow the French to attack it. Land the troops by bateaux, go to the closest fort. Rest. Attack Duquesne.

Of course, for this Loki100 would need to muster a large force – and he cannot be on all fronts. He will probably arbitrate toward a smaller but more mobile force.

With this in sight, I will keep a large defense in Fort Duquesne, and wipe the neighbouring forts and village. I am not quite strong enough in 1756 to prepare expedition on Detroit or Niagara from Duquesne… but I still want Loki to feel threatened.

In the middle of the map, the big threat is the arrival of Montcalm :

He can head South directly to Albany. I will send as much troops as I can in the city. The problem is that I want to keep Oswego as well (for now just a port), as its fall can make me lose the Great Lake Indians alliance. This is a secondary target only : if I believe the French are moving slowly, I will send a troop to build a fort there and, well, wait there. I will also have to keep the thin network of strongpoints to there opened.
Fort Niagara is not an objective either for 1756.

Let me show you the South :

I have no defense there, and there will be quite a lot of action in 1756 - which was not forecast. That’s why I show it

Finally, in Nova Scotia, I plan to take Saint Jean, and then ship everyone to Albany. If Saint Jean falls early, I will be able to have a decent force in Albany, and still protect Oswego.

Also note that in Winter I build a depot in Halifax. I am thinking long term, for when I will have a large fleet to supply and refit to attack Louisbourg.

Interesting how you and I had the same analysis of the Fort Duquesne situation : the strategicness of Fort Cumberland to hold Duquesne on the long run, and the strategicness of Fort Venango to attack Duquesne itself.

Interesting how you and I had the same analysis of the Fort Duquesne situation : the strategicness of Fort Cumberland to hold Duquesne on the long run, and the strategicness of Fort Venango to attack Duquesne itself.

I did actually think of burning down Fort Venango and the fort on Lake Niagara to create a scorched earth and protect Detroit that way - I didn't as I felt I could still bottle up your forces at Duquesne and was afraid that the loss of the forts would in turn make even more Indians opt out the war

Remember, whatever the question, the answer on 18 September is Yes ...

Early skrmishing - May_June 1756

I've conflated these turns as there was a lot of movement but not much action ... but it ends with shocking evidence of English brutality (so sensitive readers may wish to avoid the final image)

This is an overview of my operations around Champlain

Basically Montcalm's supply and guns go by water, the infantry can march, I think they'll arrive soon enough in the region. A group of Indians that start around Mont Royal, I've pushed down to Hudson/Fort Bull region - I'm looking for weakly held forts to overrun if I can.

In the north east, the Indians are in position at Fort Western, its weakly held so they can take it before the Couriers arrive

Now around Fort Duquesne its all a bit active.

I've moved one more regular battalion into Fort Venango, the bulk of the Couriers and the Indians will screen the fort, but I've sent one unit off to Fort Cumberland to check out the garrison there

Meantime down in the south, I'm still raising tribes and don't want to strike too early and lose battles piecemeal

on the other hand ... decide on a very cautious weak probe at Fort George. Note that the French commander can directly lead Indians - very handy at improving their chances.

and Narwhal seems to agree with me - you can never have enough troops.

Over in the NE, Fort Western falls again and a large British force invests Fort Jean - well I have about 150 power in the garisson so it should occupy them most of the summer.

Around Ontario, most of my Indians have now gathered at Niagara, so time to move forward, you can also see the Indians I sent down from Mont Royal ... and a shiny new English fort to burn (if I can) ... and I've seen Narwhal's men playing about with boats on what is my lake ...

Around Duquesne, I spot that Fort Cumberland is not that well held.

So gather most of the Indians and Couriers and send them down there to take it if I can, leaving some in ambush around Fort Duquesne.

Of course, this is where the terrible English act then takes place:

A shameless attack on my poor Indians ... even with cannon ... ah well at least I know what he's got at and around Duquesne - still think chopping its link back to the core English holdings is a good idea.

In the south, nothing really happened, I was too cautious in my assault posture and decided to spend this turn raising more Indians. That theatre will be busy before the summer is much older.

Remember, whatever the question, the answer on 18 September is Yes ...

The first blood is shed – by the French, of course, in March 1756, with the attack on the Indian village of Geneseo ; the same place where, less than a year ago, they murdered an Indian leader.

The attack is easily repulsed.

Confronted with such an horrible crime, all the Iroquois are ordered to gather in Geneseo, from which they will launch a reprisal against Niagara. An English leader [Sir William Johnson] very generously proposed his help :

Even the Cherokees feel threaten by the French move :

[Actually, in game terms, the two events are unrelated.] They will join me once I build some forts in the South.

The force is ready in April :

A scouting unit sent in front of Fort Niagara reports significant but not huge defenses. The order of attack is confirmed :

Meanwhile, since the French consider themselves still at war (the war has not started officially), I carry with my plan to take Saint Jean in Nova Scotia :

Finally, a fort is being built to please the Cherokees.

I believe the French have no notice of this, so their chance of actually interrupting the works are nil, except if you are playing against a player with some experience of the campaign [sadly]. In any case, the work on the fort evacuate as soon as the French leave the area (except if they have kept military control).

In May 1756, finally, the counter-attack on Fort Niagara is “resolved” :

Unfortunately, it is a defeat for me, and my Indians have to retreat. I will send them to Albany to recover their hits (I will make a BC next post on recovering hits, and THEN one on cohesion in the following one).

Meanwhile, Sir William Shirley is sent to Oswego to build a fort with a significant force, to help secure the Iroquois alliance.

In the area of Fort Duquesne, I am going to destroy the first target I set during the description of my plan : the Indian village nearby. I will drop my troops by bateaux (the battoemen built them in winter) and then assault the village :

Veteran’s corner : The Iroquois in the French-Indian War

I have been looking at the event files, and I believe I can make the following interpretation (if it is not very clear, so I can be wrong). Some events in-game give hints, but it is not very clear.

The Iroquois South of the Ontario are locked for the English player as long as either :
- The French attack one of their villages, or
- A fort is built in Oswego

The game tells you that If you put some troops in Oswego, a fort will automatically built.

The Iroquois South of the Ontario will switch side to the French if
- The English Fort Oswego falls, or
- The French build a Fort in Oswego (which can be done if they have Military Control over the province for a few turns), or
- Albany falls and there is no English fort in Oswego.

In my situation, I could make it harder for the French to force the Iroquois reversal of alliance by not making a Fort, but then I like to be fair-play and not to "exploit” the events. Also, I need Oswego to send boats over the Ontario.

The Cherokee rules for alliance switching is much, much more complex (they have got one event file for them alone, of half the size of the “generic” event file which includes the Iroquois events), so unfortunately I cannot give you more information on them.

Caught up to July 4th. Some very informative posts from Narwhal. Combined with comments from loki, it sounds like this might be an excellent game to get truly acquainted with the AGEOD games: a streamlined game, with not quite the level of complexity that RUS or ROP (not to mention PON) brings to the table.

Caught up to July 4th. Some very informative posts from Narwhal. Combined with comments from loki, it sounds like this might be an excellent game to get truly acquainted with the AGEOD games: a streamlined game, with not quite the level of complexity that RUS or ROP (not to mention PON) brings to the table.

To be honest, while I like RoP a lot, I prefer Wars in Americas : it is more streamlined and "simple", but yet the number of options available to a player is way superior in general due to the size of the map and the nature of warfare, and there are much, much more scenarios / Campaigns available making for diversified types of game.

To be honest, while I like RoP a lot, I prefer Wars in Americas : it is more streamlined and "simple", but yet the number of options available to a player is way superior in general due to the size of the map and the nature of warfare, and there are much, much more scenarios / Campaigns available making for diversified types of game.

I'd concur, RoP is superb, immersive and quite complex. BoA seems just perfectly judged, there are a mass of scenarios, but even just this one would stand mulitple plays. I've run 1755 SP a couple of times and even against the AI, its not the same set of moves ... you can easily better my disastrous opening, but thats not game winning if you are the French. I've yet to do much with PoN than look at the map, the tutorials and scenarios, but I think I'll put it to one side for a quiet period.

And yes, it does teach you the core of AGEOD design approach in a very pleasing manner. Its a little gem and I think Paradox picked a good title to give away, it should lure people into the AGEOD games (at the moment I'm playing as much AGEOD as conventional Paradox)

Remember, whatever the question, the answer on 18 September is Yes ...

July 1756 - the true version

Hah, I'll get my version on the record first, especially as there is even more English nasty things in this month.

Actually it was fairly quiet, so far I think the first half of a campaigning season is relatively quiet as it takes time to move forward, so as here, most of the turn was me selecting my targets for August.

Anyway, I build a new fort and receive some more forces ... good

and, oh the horror ... they did it again .... same army too [& edt - same event again ... thought it looked familiar ... still its indicative rather than narrowly descriptive]

So that calls for a response

I've gathered a lot of couriers and indians at Fort Cumberland, enough hopefully to overwhelm the garrison in an assault. If so the large English force at Duqeusne is suddenly cut off from its base.

And around Ontario, I've found the weakest fort, so again trying to concentrate for a major assault next turn.

Same story in the south

On all these fronts I wanted to spend a bit of time concentrating and scouting rather than lose my forces piecemeal.

I don't think the Indians reinforce in the game time period (not noticed it anyway), so the result is that my raiding forces get weaker as the game goes on from attrition and combat losses.

Much the same in the North East. I'll burn Fort Western and then move onto the next target. St Jean meantime is easily resisting the English ...

Its all going sooo well.

Last edited by loki100; 16-07-2011 at 12:39.
Reason: a minor correction to the historical record

Remember, whatever the question, the answer on 18 September is Yes ...

Just to mention that you claimed that I attacked the Mingo Village twice, when actually you put 2 screenshoot of the same battle in different posts (4th of June 1756). An easy way to see the French "honesty" in claiming English "war-crimes". Ah !

Just to mention that you claimed that I attacked the Mingo Village twice, when actually you put 2 screenshoot of the same battle in different posts (4th of June 1756). An easy way to see the French "honesty" in claiming English "war-crimes". Ah !

ah yes ... I still get mixed up with the time frames as the outcomes of the previous game turn show up with the clock/date for the current one. Ok, we'll remove that particular calous act from the record ... but I can assure the readers it really isn't the last

Remember, whatever the question, the answer on 18 September is Yes ...

In June 1756, not much happens. My landing on Mingo village is for finished yet – something delaying it (I suspect I mixed up in the orders).

Note that, if you read the Loki’s AAR, you will see that the village of Mingo was attacked in June. It is normal – when I say “June 1756”, it means the name of the turn is “June 1756”, but we are actually the last day of May 1756 and I am preparing the events for the coming month. For ease of use, I talk by turn name and not by actual date.

My Fort is built in Oswego :

While my force in Oswego would theorically allow me to push toward Niagara, I want to make sure I keep the fort, so their orders are to “hold up”. I reckon the garrison is strong enough to stop anything coming from the West. As for any army coming from the North, well, just hope it does not happen.

Saint-Jean is now under siege :

I cannot blockade the port, because I need 12 naval (war) elements in the sea to blockade It (the number depends on the port, it goes from 4 to 12, and you know it by hovering your mouse over the sea you want to blockade), and as of yet I only have 8 naval elements : the Windsor Squadron and the Sphinx squadron (both squadrons received an extra Brig since the beginning of the game).

In New York, I receive a new commander, James Abercromby – still known to this day for a defeat.

Finally, my Indians are recovering their hits (i.e. being healed in an hospital, while a recruiter strides Albany asking “who wants to become an Indian ?”).

Beginner’s Corner : Recovering hits

First, let’s define “strength points” (or “hits”) :

“Strength Points” (which I usually improperly call “hits”, “hits” actually being what makes you lose “Strength Points”) is actually a sort of “health-point”. The number of “strength points” lost is indicated in red, in the small box in the lowermost-right corner. Example :

A “strength point” represents a certain number of men (+ horses + guns if applicable) in a unit. Most English infantry units have 120 (regular) to 160 (colonial) men, while most French units have 200 men. Most (all ?) elements have 8 to 10 strength points, so a hit represents 20 French men, but only 12/16 English men. An Indian element is always 180 men and 6 hits (30 men per hits).
Here are a few examples :

The number of men in itself has no game impact, but of course French units were coded as “better” to compensate for this (and also because men-for-men, French soldiers were better in that era).
The number of strength points left is very important. An element with half the strength points fight at half the efficiency, period.
[In some previous screenshoots, I made calculation on the number of men dead given the number of hits I inflicted but my calculation were actually bogus – forget them].

When an element arrives at 0 hits, it is eliminated.

How do you recover hits

It does not work like it does in the other AGEOD games. At all.

To recover hits, you need the following conditions to be true :
- The stack that includes the elements is in a province with a unbesieged structure you control
- The unit receives supplies in excess to what it consumes
- The units is fully supplied, or the supplies it will receive at the end of the turn will be enough to be fully supplied next turn
- The unit is not moving

If this happens, the “excess supplies” received will be converted for freein recovered strength points. I don’t know how much “supply points” you need per unit. I just noticed that the more you have, the quicker you recover.

The maximum number of hits you can recover (compared to maximum possible for your units) follow these rules (non-cumulative) :
- 10% in a region with an town – barely enough to enough to recover from “natural attrition”, so it will look like you have not recovered anything
- 20% in a region with a city size 4 or more
- 30% in a region with Depot
- For naval units, 5% per size of the harbor.

So, here is why I believe I will recover quickly with my Indians.

Of course, this system is quite realistic for everything… except Indians. You don’t really see replacement Indians being recruited in New York. But maybe you can consider it is new braves being trained and refurbished by the British in Albany.

Again, contrarly to other AGEOD games, you don’t need to have any “replacements” in the “replacement pool” to recover hits.

How do I replace destroyed elements

When an element is destroyed, you cannot recover hit by having your unit rest in some depot or city.
When a unit is not at its maximum of elements, it can gain one extra element if the following conditions are true :

- It is in a city level 4 or more or in a depot
- It is fully supplied
- There are replacements available. Those are quite rare.

You see the replacement available by pressing F2 :

Here, I cannot replace the 2 extra elements of Light Horse I actually never had.

How do I get more replacements

Some extra elements arrive twice a year. You can also buy them by EP (F3-F4). Here is an example of what I can do (there are other pages) :

How do I replace destroyed units

You can’t. You can use a lot of EP to receive new ones (see above). It is expansive. Don’t count on it too much.
The rest arrives by event.

highly informative thanks, so in effect if your Indians won't recover over winter as they are in villages, but if you move them to a large city at the start of the campaign year they'll regain strength and can be used in the summer ... guess who's just been letting them get weaker and weaker?

I'd sort of assumed the RoP system applied, but in fact losses within elements repair automatically and your replacements just replace lost elements.

Now of course, this

Finally, my Indians are recovering their hits (i.e. being healed in an hospital, while a recruiter strides Albany asking “who wants to become an Indian ?”).

explains a lot ... there will be some nasty acts of brutality by the English Indians later in 1756 ... now of course the reason is made clear they are really ----- Englishmen dressed as Indians

Remember, whatever the question, the answer on 18 September is Yes ...